Left-Leaning Kaiser Poll Shows Americans Dislike Obamacare

Jeffrey H. Anderson

November 30, 2011 2:36 PM

The November Kaiser Health Tracking poll shows that Americans have an “unfavorable” (44 percent), rather than a “favorable” (37 percent), view of Obamacare — including 29 percent “very unfavorable” to 17 percent “very favorable.” What’s most remarkable about Kaiser’s survey, however, is that it shows such results despite having polled a group of respondents that bears little resemblance to the American electorate.

One year ago, exit polling showed that 35 percent of those who voted were Democrats, while 35 percent were Republicans. Kaiser keeps roughly that same percentage of Democrats in its survey (34 percent) but drops GOP representation down to just 21 percent — or about 60 percent of what it should be.

Surveys done by Kaiser — a supporter of Obamacare — always lean left and should therefore be taken with a grain of salt. Still, the trend is striking. In its first poll after President Obama signed his health care overhaul into law, Kaiser showed its net favorability rating to be +6 percent (46 percent “favorable” to 40 percent “unfavorable”). Kaiser now shows its net favorability rating to be minus-7 percent — a swing of 13 points against Obamacare in just over a year and a half. Moreover, Kaiser shows that Obamacare is even more unpopular now than it was when Republicans rode their strong support for its repeal to an overwhelming victory a year ago.

The poll’s respondents say that they and their families would be worse off (31 percent), rather than better off (23 percent), under Obamacare. The same goes for the country (36 to 35 percent), seniors (36 to 32 percent), Medicare (32 to 22 percent), and the middle class (37 to 31 percent). Again, this is from a poll that asked the opinion of about 5 Democrats for every 3 Republicans.

Lastly, Kaiser shows that only 9 percent of respondents say that news coverage of Obamacare over the past month has been “mostly positive.” That finding is really quite striking. It speaks volumes that a press corps that has been, well, somewhere between charitable and obsequious in its reporting on Obama, is now at a loss for much of anything good to say whatsoever about his signature legislation. Perhaps the upcoming election will be about much more than just the economy.